An estimated eight Canadians will be diagnosed with multiple myeloma today, but many have never heard of it.
Sarah McCaustlin knew nothing about the rare cancer, which attacks plasma cells in the bone barrow — until her mother was diagnosed with it.
McCaustlin and her family organized New Brunswick’s first-ever Multiple Myeloma March in Saint John on Sunday.
“It was my step-dad that wanted to do it to basically just raise awareness and kind of raise money at the same time for the cure,” McCaustlin told our newsroom.
About 100 people have turned out for the Multiple Myeloma March in #SaintJohn — the first one ever to take place in #NewBrunswick, according to one of the organizers. pic.twitter.com/R87AlCyRh1
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) September 23, 2018
More than 100 people, including other families who have been affected by the disease, came out for the 5k walk in hopes of raising $10,000.
McCaustlin said there is no cure for myeloma, but her mother has received stem cell transplants to help control it.
“It’s something that she’ll have to live with and something she can live a long time with,” she said, “but she might have to get treatments in between the years and she lives with it.”
Figures from the Canadian Cancer Society show an estimated 2,900 hundred Canadians are diagnosed with multiple myeloma each year.
(Photo: Brad Perry/Acadia News)
